The Publishing Package

On the web an article can carry more than its body. Readers who want to check you can. Readers who are confused can find answers. Readers who disagree can see that you already faced their best argument. The package below is the standard for finished advocacy and analysis pieces on this site. News briefs can skip parts of it. Long pieces should not.

Every part goes inside the article file, after the body and before the byline. Readers should not have to open five documents.

The running example: an analysis piece arguing that the Marlow Water and Sewer District's 22 percent rate increase was necessary but should have come with a low-income discount. (Invented town, invented district.)

Citations and links

Link inline, in the sentence where the fact appears, to the original document. Then repeat every key source in a numbered list at the end. The inline link serves the reader in the moment. The list serves the reader who wants to check everything, and it survives when the article is printed or pasted somewhere links get stripped.

Each citation needs: the document's title, who published it, the date, and a link to the original. Add the date you last checked the link for anything that might change or vanish. The SPJ Code of Ethics asks journalists to use original sources and give readers access to source material. A citations list is the plainest way to do it.

Before publishing, open every link. Run the list through Source Checker. Replace any link to a news story about a document with the document itself.

Infographic

One chart that shows the central number beats a paragraph of figures. Pick the single comparison that carries your point and draw only that.

Rules that keep a chart honest:

• Bar charts start at zero. A cut axis makes small changes look huge.
• Label units and the time period. "$ per month, residential base rate, 2022 to 2026."
• Put the source under the chart, in small type.
• One idea per chart. If you need two ideas, make two charts.
• Do not rely on color alone to tell things apart. Label directly.

Every chart also needs a text version. The W3C's guidance on complex images calls for a short description identifying the image plus a longer description that gives the essential data in text, available to everyone, ideally in the main content. A caption with the actual numbers does both jobs.

You can build a simple chart in a spreadsheet and export it as an image, or make a clean graphic in ImageStudio as a background and add exact numbers yourself. Never let an image generator draw the numbers. It will invent them.

Glossary

Short. Three to eight terms. Only words a general reader may not know or may misread. Define each in one plain sentence, in the sense your article uses it.

Reader Q&A

The Q&A answers what ordinary readers will ask after reading: what it costs them, when, what they can do. Five questions is typical. Find them by asking people, reading comments on earlier stories, or listening to what got asked at the meeting.

Answer in full. A Q&A answer of "It depends" is useless. Give the number, the date, the phone number, the link. Write the question the way a reader would say it.

Interrogatories

This is the hard part, and the part that makes an argument trustworthy. List the 5 to 10 hardest questions someone who disagrees with your position would ask. Skip the straw men and write the questions you hope nobody asks. Then answer each one in full, with evidence.

Rules:

• Write the question as the opponent would, in their strongest form.
• Concede what is true. If they have a point, say so plainly, then answer the rest.
• Answer with evidence and citations, not with tone.
• If you cannot answer a question, say what you do not know. That is better than a dodge.
• Cover both flanks. A piece arguing for a discount gets attacked by people who think the hike was unnecessary and by people who think a discount is unfair to other ratepayers.

Order on the page

Headline and dek. Body with the infographic near the number it shows. Reader Q&A. Interrogatories. Glossary. Citations. Byline and rights line at the bottom. Readers looking for the reference material will find it at the end. Readers who stop after the body still got the story.